Jun 4, 2026 By John Sacco 4 min read

In the end, it took one more dramatic, post-season walk-off win and two native Washington Countians to propel Denison University to the NCAA Division III World Series Thursday evening at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio.

In what had been a magical season for Denison baseball coach Mike Deegan, a Trinity High School graduate and Washington native, it was junior Jack Lutte, a Peters Township graduate, who stroked the World Series winning hit to give the Big Red a 4-3, 10-inning victory over Endicott.

Denison, of Granville, OH, overcame a 3-0 deficit in the deciding third game of the championship series and a brutal 11-10 loss in 10 innings in Game 2 earlier in the day. The Big Red captured Game1 Wednesday, 6-0.

The teams played almost six hours Thursday and 20 innings.

Lutte’s title-winning hit came with runners on first and second. His shot to right off the fence scored Kelly Crittenberger and led to an eruption from the Denison dugout.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Deegan said. “I mean that’s special stuff. “You mentioned words like resiliency and toughness and that’s what I’m so proud of. I’m now convinced to win something like this; you must have kids who are just so tough and so selfless. All we can do as a program is kind of put the infrastructure in place and let it happen. But then those guys take it to a whole other level.”

Early on in Lutte’s epic at bat, Deegan thought about bunting runners over.

“The book says bunt, right? Get the runners over. Jack Lutte, in my opinion, is the best hitter in the country, best pure hitter,” Deegan explained. “I wanted to give him his shot.”

Lutte responded.

“That was the biggest swing of my life. I was trying to see something up and hit it to the right side to advance the runners at the very least. I didn’t know we were national champions at first but once it kicked off the wall that was when I knew for sure.

“I think that toughness and resilience is something that we’ve embodied the whole season. It’s not the first time our backs have been against the wall. We walked off every game of our regional and a few of those games we were losing in the last inning. As a team, we trust each other so much to produce and perform. We never get down and just grind out at bats and play.”

Deegan, 47, and in his 14th season, led the Big Red to a No. 1 ranking most of the season.

After losing its first game of the World Series to East Texas Baptist, 5-1, Denison defeated Johns Hopkins, 8-0, Baldwin Wallace, 6-4, and East Texas Baptist twice (13-2 and 11-7) to advance to the finals.

Denison won the NCAC Tournament, NCAA Regional and NCAA Super Regional, which included a handful of dramatic, walk-off victories.

The loss to East Texas Baptist broke an historic 44-game winning streak. The Big Red hadn’t lost since Feb. 21.

Denison finished the 2026 season with a 51-3 record.

Deegan was a four-year starter in basketball and was the Hillers’ leading scorer in 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1996-97. He was first-team All-Section as a sophomore and senior.

He graduated as Trinity’s all-time leading scorer with 1,296 points.

Deegan was a three-year starter in baseball as a shortstop. He helped lead the Hillers to the WPIAL playoffs three consecutive years from 1995-97. Deegan was first-team all-section in 1997.

He is a member of the Washington-Greene County Sports Hall of Fame, Marietta College athletic Hall of Fame and was inducted to the Trinity Hall of Fame in 2012.

In his 13 previous seasons at Denison, Deegan guided his teams to five NCAC regular-season titles, six NCAC Tournament titles, a trip to NCAA Division III World Series and 11 appearances in the NCAC Championship Tournament.

Last year, Denison defeated Rowan University, 12-10, to advance in the double elimination bracket of the World Series. The team would lose to eventual champion Wisconsin-Whitewater, 11-4, and lose their elimination game in a rematch with Rowan, 6-1.

The 2024 season was a historic one for the Big Red. Deegan helped guide Denison to a school record 42 wins and its first-ever appearance in the Division III Baseball Super Regionals.